How do we measure how we are doing as a church? I wish there was an actual spiritual thermometer that we could get. We could set up a little booth for when people come into the church so we could measure their spiritual temperature. Since we don't have this spiritual thermometer, we measure the success of our churches by the effects of the temperature, but not the actual temperature. Imagine if we couldn't feel the actual temperature outside. Imagine if there was no thermometer to measure how hot or cold it is outside, and the only way to measure how hot or cold was to look around to see the effects of the temperature instead. Maybe you see frost on the ground, or no leaves on the trees, and no freshly bud flowers all which indicate that it is getting colder, but you actually can't feel the cold. Or maybe we see grass starting to grow, flowers budding, birds chirping all which are the affects of it getting warmer, but you can't feel it. It's possible to get a false temperature reading by looking at the effects also. For example, In the spring things start to grow. As it gets hotter and hotter things sometimes die. We could measure the effects (dying grass & plants) incorrectly, and assume that things are cold when they are actually hot or vice versa.
What are the effects that we look at to measure the temperature in the church?
Here are some...
- attendance
- offering
- small group involvement
- members(We call them "vision carriers")
- ministry involvement
- baptisms
- salvation decisions
